Literary reflections

Here are a few brief literature-related reflections taken from a discussion I've been having on facebook:

The strength of our response to authors often reflects the moral judgements we make on the worldview underpinning the fiction of these authors. This is, I think, a major reason for the existence of storytelling in human culture; that we share and test ways of viewing and inhabiting the world through the stories we tell. This is not a didactic exercise (at least, not in great literature) as we are invited to inhabit one or more worldviews through the story's unfolding rather than being told about those worldviews, as would be the case in an article, essay or sermon.

I think therefore that we all instinctively make moral judgements about stories and veer towards literature and art which reinforces or develops our worldview while tending to reject work which expresses worldviews to which we don't subscribe (because the characters and narrative in these don't seem credible). We aren't comfortable acknowledging this, however, as we like to think our literary judgements are dispassionate and objective rather than passionately moral (although coming from differing moral bases).
 
As a result, while I think that texts exist in their own right once completed and can be addressed in their own right, I don't think that the life of the author then becomes irrelevant as a result. The relationship between author and book is similar to that between parent and child. I can know and relate someone's child without knowing anything of the parent but, through knowing the parent, I am likely to appreciate aspects of the child which I might not acknowledge otherwise. This additional knowledge does not define the child, who exists as someone more than simply the son of daughter of the parent, but can provide extra insight into his/her character or personality. I think the same is true of authors and books.


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My Chemical Romance - Desolation Row.